Salade Méchouia

Making Salade Méchouia

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1. Char the peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic and chilli directly over a gas flame or under a hot grill, turning, until blackened all over. The peppers take about 12 minutes, the tomatoes and garlic rather less.

   Mark done Start 12 min timer

2. Put everything in a bowl, cover tightly and leave 10 minutes to steam.

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3. Peel everything. The skins should slip off; scrape rather than rinse, because water takes the flavour with it.

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4. Deseed the peppers and chilli, and squeeze the garlic out of its skins.

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5. Chop everything together on a board until you have a rough, chunky mixture. Do not blend.

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6. Dress with the olive oil, vinegar, caraway, coriander and salt.

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7. Spread on a plate and top with tuna (optional), egg, olives and parsley.

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Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.

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Tips for Making Salade Méchouia

• Blacken them properly. Timid charring gives no smoke and the salad tastes of raw pepper.
• Never rinse off the skins. Scrape with a knife and accept a few flecks of black.
• Chop by hand. A processor gives you a purée and the whole point is texture.

If You're Missing Something

• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the green chilli. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Serving Suggestions

• Crusty bread, to scoop
• A cold Tunisian rosé
• Harissa on the side, for more heat

Leftovers and Storage

Refrigerate up to 4 days and it improves for two. Add the tuna and eggs only to the portion you are serving.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: a drained tin is counted at its full weight, liquid included, so those lines run high. How the figures are worked out.

Vegan when served without the tuna in olive oil and hard-boiled eggs. Vegetarian when served without the tuna in olive oil.

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